For 2010, I have chosen streamline as my word to focus on; as in streamlining my lines of communication. Giving this much thought, what I am truly seeking are ways to get my social media and networking efforts working seamlessly and smoothly; in essence, efficiently managing my media empire.

The first step is to inventory my media empire, visually represented in this diagram (click on the image to enlarge):

As I see it, my blog is the center of my media empire with seven smaller territories or outposts: Twitter, FaceBook, Linkedln, YouTube, Flickr, StumbleUpon, and Email Broadcast.

The next step is where the process becomes intriguing and takes me back to my university courses in Mass Communication – it’s all about cross-media promotion! Think what you will about her, but Oprah is an awesome example of someone who has built a media empire and uses cross-media promotion to keep the whole thing humming seamlessly: she mentions her magazine on her TV show, her magazine points readers to her website, her website provides details about her satellite radio station, etc. Brilliant!

Those of us blogging and using various other social media and networking tools are striving to do the exact same thing, albeit on a much smaller scale (at least, for the majority of us!).

Taking my social media empire diagram from above, I then add red arrows indicating the flow of information, the cross-media promotion efforts. In this diagram (click on it to enlarge) the dotted red arrows indicate a manual effort or action and the solid red arrow indicate an automatic action.

The numbered arrows indicate the following:

1. Manually tweet when I publish a blog post, bringing people to the blog.
2. New blog posts are automatically added to my Facebook Notes and Networked Blogs. (Need to manually hit publish on Networked Blogs, but then it appears twice on my Profile page. A setting somewhere?)
3. Tweets are fed automatically into my Facebook status line.
4. Linkedln profile brings people to the blog, in theory.
5. Videos posted on YouTube bring people to the blog.
6. Manually stumbling posts brings people to the blog.
7. Blog posts are automatically sent to email subscribers.
8. The recently added TweetMeme (currently located in the upper left corner of posts) that enables readers to manually tweet out about that blog post. (I’ve noticed these tweets aren’t appearing in the twitterstream; rather, only the TweetMeme website. Another setting somewhere? Or, would another plugin be better for this? )
9. Currently, the TweetMeme feature is also include in the email broadcast so the email readers easily tweet about the post.

Representing my social media empire in this way I find exciting and I can now see where the gaps are. This year I aim to experiment with ways to connect and to strengthen my empire, ways for cross-media promotion. Some experiments will succeed, other will bomb. I intend to share what I learn in an ebook later this year.

Have you mapped your social media empire? What have you discovered?

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According to PostRank Analytics – a system for analyzing and scoring engagement events, social engagement refers to “the attention other people pay to your published content, like blog posts, news and articles. They see and read a post, and then because it’s interesting, inspiring, or controversial, they get “hooked” and decide to take further action.”

PostRank’s scoring system measures the “5 C’s” of engagement:

• Creating: i.e. writing a blog post
• Critiquing: i.e. leaving a blog comment
• Chatting: i.e sharing and discussing information on Twitter
• Collecting: i.e. submitting a post to Stumbleupon
• Clicking:i.e. clicking a link to read a blog post

The more engagement an event requires (i.e. writing a blog post), the more engagement points the event receives. Bloggers can use their posts’ engagement scores as a measurement of how well their readers are reacting to and engaging with their content.

PostRank crunched the numbers to determine the most engaged readers in 2009. And the results are in…!

Thanks to you, my very engaged readers, Do It Myself Blog ranked #6 in the Disability category! Thank you!

The detailed analysis is available from PostRank. The top 10 engaging posts are:

1. Da Wife on Wheels Dismissed Yet Again / August 29, 2009 – 406 engagement points
2. 5 Reasons Why Bloggers and Web Designers Should Consider Accessibility / October 6, 2009 – 346 points
3. Let’s Feed 100 People in Need Christmas Dinner, Again! / December 4, 2009 – 335 points
4. WordPress Misses the #1 Accessibility Tip / September 28, 2009 – 325 points
5. What Makes a Blog Theme Accessible? / August 6, 2009 – 274 points
6. To the Employers Who Refused Me a Job, You Lose! / December 30, 2009 – 273 points
7. Social Media Empowers Otherwise Silenced Voices / July 31, 2009 – 251 points
8. How POUR is Your Blog / May 1, 2009 – 222 points
9. Dreams Do Come True – With a Little Help from Friends / October 23, 2009 –164 points
10. Are Multiple Themes Useful in Improving Blog Accessibility? / August 24, 2009 – 164 points

I’ve included the post dates to illustrate that the older posts (hence more time for engagement) are not necessarily ranked higher. These numbers also prove your comments, tweets, stumbles and the like do matter! Thank you.

I will continue creating, if you continue critiquing, chatting, collecting and clicking. Together, let’s see how engaged we can be in 2010!

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The week before Christmas I participated in a webinar series on social media organized and hosted by Dana Dunn of Women with Passion and Purpose. Among the lineup of passionate women speakers was Pam Brossman talking about using video to promote your own business. I wasn’t too sure how I could implement video into my own business – talking in front of a camera isn’t really my thing, except for once a year. Then my friend Suzie Cheel suggested that I could create PowerPoint videos.

Later that evening my ever-informative husband Darrell pointed me to a Bob Schultz video that apparently was viewed several hundred thousand time the first weekend it was up. Viewing the video, I was unsure what the big deal was about a photo of three basset hound puppies with text balloons overhead. But if that is what catches people attention and goes viral, perhaps there’s something to it!

That got me thinking. My brain was churning while wrapping gifts, eating turkey with family and indulging in way too many yummy goodies. After all that, I am excited to introduce Faith the Talking CFO…

This video is intended as an experiment, to figure the technical aspect. Future videos will have more compelling messages by Faith.

Do you think this crazy idea has potential?

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For the past two years I have followed Christine Kane’s lead in choosing one word to guide me through the year. Focus was my word for 2008. What I discovered about finding focus was interesting and quite helpful.

Frustrated with needing to manage several lines of communications – emails, tweets Facebook comments and the like – my word for 2009 was streamline.

In 2009 I intended
To email, DM and PM
My people, peeps and tweeps
For wazoodles, widgets and gidgets
To follow, connect and friend
Friends, readers, robots too!

I did not find a way
I am sad to say
To mash together
Facebook, Linkedln, Flickr,
YouTube, Viddler, and Twitter.

I did not find a way
To be the best connector,
Inter-actor and communicator
With one left thumb.

“The reason?” you ask.
I was too busy
Emailing, tweeting, commenting,
Following, too,
To find a better way.
Streamline in 2009, I did not.

But, all is not lost.
There’s still hope
For a new year begins soon
And I’m giving myself a redo!

A do-over to try again
To mash together
All these messages,
To be the best connector,
Inter-actor and communicator
With one left thumb.

Will you help me
Streamline in 2010?
Would you leave your
Thoughts, ideas and tips
On wazoodles, widgets and gidgets
To follow, connect and friend
Friends, readers, robots too,
In the comment box below, please?
I thank you,
My friends, my readers,
My followers, too!

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With countless demands on your time, remembering to visit your favourite blog to read the latest posts doesn’t need to be on your to-do list.

Below are five ways to keep up with me and my blog posts. Choose your preferred method(s):

1. Via Email: Don’t miss a blog post. Sign up in the box in the upper right corner to receive posts in your email inbox. How cool is that!
2. Via RSS: Add the Do It Myself Blog RSS feed to your preferred reader.
3. On Alltop: Be sure to add this blog to your own MyAlltop. My blog is listed as Glenda Watson Hyatt under the Cerebral Palsy category and as Do It Myself Blog under the Disability category.
4. On Twitter: To keep up to date with my daily happenings, thoughts and tidbits, follow me at @GlendaWH. Twitter is my usual online hang-out.
5. On Facebook: Even though I have a Facebook presence, I am there more to connect with people than to toss the vampire, build my own farm, or test my music IQ. If you befriend me, please mention that you came via my blog. Simply saying we have 197 friends in common will likely be ignored. If you prefer reading blogs via Facebook, follow Do It Myself Blog on NetworkedBlogs

Of course, you are also most welcome to visit this blog whenever you like! Whichever is easiest for you!

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After months of anticipation, the details are finally finalized: I am presenting at WordCamp Las Vegas at the BlogWorld & New Media Expo. Yes, the Left Thumb Blogger live in Vegas!

Together with WordPress’ parent company Automattic’s “User Interface Goddess” Jane Wells, who will be appearing via video, and Damien Patton, founder and CEO of FindAnyFloor.com (plus countless other projects on his plate!), we will be presenting the “Three Faces of Blog Accessibility” . We’ll be discussing blog accessibility from three perspectives:

• barriers bloggers with disabilities face and tips for increasing your blog’s accessibility;
• benefits to businesses for implementing the web accessibility guidelines; and
• the blogging platform WordPress’ commitment to accessibility accessibility.

Please join us!

When: Saturday, October 17th, 2009, at 1pm
Where: Las Vegas Convention Center, towards the back of the Exhibit Hall

I’d like to thank BlogWorld Co-founder and CEO Rick Calvert and BlogWorld’s Social Media Director Jim Turner for including accessibility on the blogging agenda, and john Hawkins for welcoming our panel presentation onto the WordCamp Las Vegas schedule. Having blog accessibility included at such an event is a huge step forward for increasing awareness of this issue.

See you in Vegas!

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One perk of being a blogger is that readers often email me with interesting information and tidbits. Today, my loyal reader Lori-ann emailed me about a speech-to-speech relay service that enables individuals with speech impairments to make phone calls.

The phone is definitely not my best friend. I’ve had callers hang up on me, swear at me; my husband warns his contacts that I might answer the phone and to be patient. As for me calling someone unfamiliar with Glenda-ish, forget it!

So, I was definitely intrigued by the service. This fully captioned video explains how the process works:

I am somewhat skeptical that a complete stranger would understand me, particularly on the phone, perhaps because, in 42 years, it has yet to happen. Unfortunately, I may never know if this service may be a viable option for me because it isn’t available in Canada. It is, however, available other countries, such as the United States, Australia, Sweden and Puerto Rico.

Wouldn’t it be ironic if, through using this new social media, we convinced the powers-that-be to make one of oldest form of communication accessible to Canadians with speech impairments?

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Liz Strauss challenges us to write 25 words on social media advice or wisdom,  which she will then compile into an amazingly creative blog post.

Here’s my contribution:

Social media gives voices to individuals marginalized and ignored by traditional media, enabling the world to hear these voices for the first time in history.

What would be your contribution?  Share your thoughts in the comments below or in a post on your own blog with a link back to Liz’s post.

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Copying an idea from Chris Brogan, who copied from Copyblogger Brian Clark, I’d like to invite you to connect with me on Twitter, if you use that social media tool.

On Twitter, I share links related to accessibility and such,  thoughts and ponderings in the moment they occur, whatever else I feel like sharing in 140 characters or less. In other words, the stuff that happens in between blog posts.

Check out my Twitter profile and you’ll discover the special landing page I’ve created especially for fellow tweeters – an idea I copied from the brilliant social media diva Laura Fitton (@Pistachio on Twitter).

Hope see you in Twitterville!

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I have been home from Chicago for a week and I still have SOBCon: Biz School for Bloggers on the brain. For me, the experience was more about the people than what I learned from the content.

Interacting with people via blog comments or 140 characters at a time on Twitter and recognizing them by their tiny avatar is one thing, but being together in three-dimensions and being able to talk, laugh or cry together is something much more powerful; something that is often missing when we become more and more connected online.

The one thing that really awed me while I was looking around and taking in all of who was in the room: most of us were there because of one person. We either knew her directly, we knew someone who knew her or we admired what she does. Liz Strauss has built such a strong and connected community online, one relationship at a time, that 125 of us did whatever was necessary to come together at the same time, at one location, in the same room. Now, that is trust! And inspiring.

As for my presentation “How POUR is Your Blog", well, I kinda rocked SOBCon! But, don’t take my word for it. Here’s what others were saying:

• Tweets during and shortly after my presentation
• making me cry by Jon Swanson
• What I learned at SOBcon (Day 1) – video by Jen Chicago (Unfortunately its not yet captioned.)
• Whrrl: SOBCon Blog Conference, Glenda Watson Hyatt by WhiteTrashMom
• Glenda Watson Hyatt: Is Your Blog Disabled? by Lorelle VanFossen
• You can be on Oprah and Larry King by Giovanna Garcia
• Accessibility isn’t hard once you’re aware by Richard Reeve
• Inspired by Glenda Watson Hyatt at SOBCon09 by Lorelle VanFossen
• Glenda can change your life!! Just give her a chance by Beth Rosen

Thanks everyone!

Finally, my trip photos are now available on Flickr. As soon as I figure out how to collect the photos others took of me, I will post that link too.

Now, to implement what I actually did learn…

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